My personal top 25 favorite costume designers
by ejs8882000 | created - 14 Feb 2013 | updated - 09 May 2013 | Public
1. Janet Patterson
Costume_designer | Bright Star
Born in Sydney, Australia, she is a costume and production designer. She is a specialist in period costume from the 19th century. All four of her Oscar nominated films are of that era. A noted recluse who rarely does interviews or attends awards ceremony's, between jobs she returns to a quite home ...
The Piano, Portrait of a Lady, Bright Star, etc.
2. Jany Temime
Costume_designer | Skyfall
Jany Temime was born in France. She is known for Skyfall (2012), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) and Judy (2019).
Most known for the Harry Potter series, films 3-8, etc.
3. Alexandra Byrne
Costume_designer | Emma.
Alexandra Byrne was born in 1962. She is a costume designer, known for Emma. (2020), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Doctor Strange (2016). She has been married to Simon Shepherd since 1980. They have four children.
Hamlet, Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Phantom of the Opera, etc. Her period pieces are beautiful.
4. Gwen Wakeling
Costume_designer | The Grapes of Wrath
Gwen Wakeling was born in Detroit. Her father was a mining engineer whose work resulted in the family moving every few years, and she wound up living everywhere from Seattle to Los Angeles to Prescott, Arizona. Upon graduating high school she got a job as a fashion artist in a department store. She...
Big in the 30's and 40's. Only won one Oscar for "Samson and Delilah" (1949).
5. Lindy Hemming
Costume_designer | Wonder Woman
She studied stage management and design at RADA and on graduation began in London's Fringe Theatre, the Open Space Theatre and Hampstead Theatre Club. This all led to West End productions, and commissions from The Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Theatre.. She was recruited by London ...
Known for her collaborations with Mike Leigh, Christopher Nolan's Batman series, and the second Harry Potter film.
6. Jacqueline Durran
Costume_designer | Anna Karenina
Jacqueline Durran is known for Anna Karenina (2012), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Atonement (2007).
Collaborations with Joe Wright, and for the "famous" green dress in Atonement (2007).
7. Orry-Kelly
Costume_designer | An American in Paris
Orry-Kelly helped to revolutionize the Warners Costume Department after he joined the studio in 1932. He was one of the first legitimate fashion designers to design for the cinema Although he could easily adapt himself to the tattered prison uniforms of "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang", he was ...
From the 30's to the early 60's, he designed gowns for the many great actresses of those era's.
8. Shirley Russell
Costume_designer | Hope and Glory
Shirley Russell was born on March 11, 1935 in London, England, UK. She was a costume designer and actress, known for Hope and Glory (1987), Reds (1981) and Yanks (1979). She was married to Ken Russell. She died on March 4, 2002 in England, UK.
Agatha, Reds, Hope and Glory, etc.
9. Judianna Makovsky
Costume_designer | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Judianna was born on August 24, 1955. As a child she joined the Metropolitan Opera ballet and children's chorus but was always more interested in what went on backstage to produce a show. After graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago and Yale Drama School she worked as an assistant to Jane ...
Known for Pleasantville, The Hunger Games, and of course the original designer for the Harry Potter costumes.
10. Jenny Beavan
Costume_designer | Mad Max: Fury Road
Jenny Beavan was born in London, England, UK. Jenny is a costume designer and actor, known for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Cruella (2021) and The King's Speech (2010). Jenny was previously married to Ian Albery.
Known for Howards End, Sense and Sensibility, Gosford Park, The King's Speech, etc. Usually subtle but very beautiful.
11. Cecil Beaton
Costume_designer | My Fair Lady
Cecil Beaton was born on January 14, 1904 in London, England, UK. He was a costume designer, known for My Fair Lady (1964), Gigi (1958) and Anna Karenina (1948). He died on January 18, 1980 in Broadchalke, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, UK.
His costumes for Gigi (1958) and My Fair Lady (1964) are well known. Appropriate for the time period but also colorful and stylish.
12. Irene Sharaff
Costume_designer | West Side Story
Nominated for fifteen Academy Awards, charismatic costumer Irene Sharaff once declared "you can acquire chic and elegance, but style itself is a a rare thing" (NY Times, August 17, 1993). During her long and distinguished career, Sharaff became known as much for her meticulous attention to detail ...
Known for The King and I, West Side Story, Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hello Dolly, etc.
13. Albert Wolsky
Costume_designer | The Manchurian Candidate
Albert Wolsky was born in Paris, France in 1930. He graduated from City College of New York and began to work in the travel industry. After several years of doing this, he decided at age 30, he wanted to pursue a career as a costume designer. His first entree was working as a "gofor" to legendary ...
Grease, All That Jazz, Bugsy, Across the Universe, etc.
14. Adrian
Costume_department | Rope
Adrian Adolph Greenburg, born in Naugatuck, Connecticut, March 3, 1903, to Gilbert and Helena (Pollack) Greenburg. He began his professional career while still attending the New York School for Fine and Applied Arts by contributing to the costumes for "George White's Scandals" in 1921. He is ...
IMHO, the "Reigning King" of Hollywood costume designers. Dressed many of the best actors and actresses back in the day.
15. Patricia Field
Costume_designer | The Devil Wears Prada
Patricia Field was born on February 12, 1941 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a costume designer and actress, known for The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Sex and the City (1998) and Sex and the City (2008).
Known for her hip, sexy, fun, and chic designs for the likes of Sex and the City, and The Devil Wears Prada (2006).
16. James Acheson
Costume_designer | The Last Emperor
James Acheson was born on March 13, 1946 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. He is a costume designer and production designer, known for The Last Emperor (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).
Known for The Last Emperor, Dangerous Liaisons, Wuthering Heights, Restoration, and the Spider Man movies. Very gorgeous designs for 17th-18th century period pieces.
17. Anthony Powell
Costume_designer | Death on the Nile
Three time Academy Award-winning costume designer Anthony Powell had an interesting range of films, from costume period films to more contemporary settings, working with an impressive list of directors such as Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski, George Cukor and William Friedkin. Powell contributed ...
Has so far won three Oscars and one BAFTA, but is probably more known for doing the second and third Indiana Jones movies...
18. Gabriella Pescucci
Costume_designer | The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Gabriella Pescucci was born in Rosignano Solvay in Tuscany in 1943 and began her film career as an assistant to Piero Tosi in the late 1960s. By the 1970s she was working as a costume designer in her own right with several films for Giovanni Patroni Griffi and also for Fellini, making her ...
Very versatile. She can go from 20's era 'Once Upon a Time in America' (1984), to 18th century 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' (1988), to 19th century 'The Age of Innocence' (1993), to a semi-steampunkish landscape of 'Van Helsing' (2004); to the modern-ish quirkiness of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (2005), to the ancient (and animated) world of 'Beowulf' (2007). Very talented indeed.
19. Ann Roth
Actress | Barbie
Ann Roth was born on October 30, 1931 in Hanover, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a costume designer and actress, known for Barbie (2023), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) and The English Patient (1996).
Known for The English Patient, The Hours, Cold Mountain, etc. Very elegant and classy.
20. Catherine Martin
Producer | Moulin Rouge!
Catherine Martin was born on January 26, 1965 in Lindfield, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is a producer and costume designer, known for Moulin Rouge! (2001), The Great Gatsby (2013) and Australia (2008). She has been married to Baz Luhrmann since January 26, 1997. They have two children.
Known for her collaborations with filmmaker (and husband) Baz Luhrmann. She has an outrageous and eccentric style that perfectly matches that of Luhrmann. Big, bright, colorful, wacky, and so gorgeous.
21. Milena Canonero
Costume_designer | The Grand Budapest Hotel
Milena Canonero grew up in Genoa. She studied design and costume in Genoa before moving to England to finish her studies. Milena's film career started with Stanley Kubrick, designing the costumes for three of his films: Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), winning her first of her four ...
Had collaborated with Stanley Kubrick, and is known for Barry Lyndon, and Marie Antoinette, etc. Both of those films she has been nominated for the BAFTA and won the Oscars, and both are just wonderful eye candy.
22. Sandy Powell
Costume_designer | Cinderella
Londoner, Sandy, studied at St Martins School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design where she specialised in theatre design, She started her professional career in fringe with the National Theatre working on numerous productions including Orders of Obedience and Rococo, She went on to ...
Also versatile in a similar way that Pescucci is. She can create costumes for of many eras like that of 'Orlando' (1992), or do 70's glam rock of 'Velvet Goldmine' (1998), or Shakespeare in Love, The Young Victoria, or 'The Tempest', etc. She is very unique.
23. Colleen Atwood
Costume_designer | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Colleen Atwood was born on September 25, 1948 in Ellensburg, Washington, USA. She is a costume designer, known for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and Chicago (2002).
Known for her collaborations with Tim Burton. A very dark and wacky style, perfect for Burton. And also very lovely with a hint of elegance. Imo, definitely one of my favorites.
24. Edith Head
Costume_department | Sabrina
Edith Head was born on October 28, 1897 in San Bernardino, California, USA. She was a costume designer and actress, known for Sabrina (1954), All About Eve (1950) and Roman Holiday (1953). She was married to Wiard Ihnen and Charles Head. She died on October 24, 1981 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
IMHO, (just like Adrian) she's the "Reigning Queen" of Hollywood costume designers. Likewise, she designed for many of the most popular actors and actresses of the day.
25. Eiko Ishioka
Costume_designer | Bram Stoker's Dracula
Eiko Ishioka was born on July 12, 1938 in Tokyo, Japan. She was a costume designer and director, known for Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), The Cell (2000) and The Fall (2006). She was married to Nico Soultanakis. She died on January 21, 2012 in Tokyo, Japan.
My absolute favorite. Her style was just so breathtakingly out of this world. Way ahead of her time. Her most famous film, that she won an Oscar for, Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992); stands out as a true visual feast. There will never be anyone else like her.
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